, 1887-01-27
LAND TRAVEL IN NORWAY.

Excellent Roads and Comfortable ve-
~hicIes-Fast and Slow Stations. Inns.
The land travelling in Norway has come
to be very comfortable; the roads are ex-
cellent. Apart from a railroad for a
short distance out from Bergen and a
railroad froi Christiania to Trendhiem
there are substantially no public convey
ances. You travel in two wheel vehicles
known as c~arioles, which carry only one
person, or in a stolkjaerre, which carries
two. There are no springs, except that
obtained by an arrangement of the seat;
but this make them generally very COM
Portable. You drive yourself. and the
boy or girl who is to take the horse and
vehicle back stands or sits or hangs be-
hind. He will drive from behind if you
desire. The way the Norwegian horses
have of going at a breakneck pace down
hill reminds me of our boyish expression,
''hckety cut" You can ordinarily make
about eight miles an hour, including a
change of horses, if you are not detained
by the fact that so many travellers nave
gone before you that they have exhausted
the supply of horses, i'll which case you
may lave to wait some hours.
The charge for vehicles in Norway is
very reasonable. Stations are established
at distances of about eight OF ten miles.
These stations are of two classes-one is
a fast and the other an ordinary station.
AT the fast stations there must always be
kept a specified number of horses ready
for travellers except when they are in use
by preceding travellers. AT the slow sta
tons no horses are required to be kept,
but time is given to send out to the
forp,ara ,aor and hr,,- tha,, Il, Th.~a
is, however, a system which is not much
used by which you may send a notifica-
ton ahead and rave horses ready ever at
the slow stations. In theory all the
horses are furnished by the farmers.
This is required at a price 50 low that it
is regarded as a tax upon them, but
since travelling has increased SO much
arrangements seem to have been made
by which the keeper of the station as
sumes the farmers burden and furnishes
the horses. They are also required to
furnish a vehicle, but this obligation only
extends to the rough country cariole of
two wheels, with only a seat for one, and
without springs. In fact, however, the
vehicles furnished are quite comfortable.
At a fast station you pay less than five
cents a kilometer for the horse, harness
and vehicle, and the boy to take it back.
If you get a stolkjaerre, which has seats
for two, you pay about seven cents.
Sixteen kilometers are equal to ten miles.
The amount of baggage allowed is
small, yet sufficient for an ordinary trav-
eler 8 use. In the stolkjaerre it goes
under the seat, where there is plenty of
room. In a cariole it is fastened behind,
and the skyd, which is the name of the
boy who goes along to take the vehicle
back, rides or stands upon it. You can
always carry in a cariole a small parcel
on the floor between your legs-and
fasten something TO the dashboard, or
what takes the place of it. 1t is astonish-
ing how enduring the Norwegian horses
are. They are tough. small, sure footed,
good natured animals, who will start out
at a trot and keep it up thirty miles with
out stopping, going that distance in four
hours. The harness is of tho simplest
possible make. There are no traces, even
when you have two horses, but always
shafts, to which the harness is fastened
by pegs. There is an arch of wood over
the horses head, through rings in which
the reins pass, and which is arranged SO
rs to take much Of the weight from the
collar. The reins are rope or twisted
leather.
The hotels or inns are comfortable,
with no elegance, but always, without
exception, clean, and the food is fair. In
these respects Norway has made great
improvements within a few years, and
improvements are going on in increased
ratio. The scenery i'll riding in Norway,
much of it, is exceedingly beautiful. |
-,.x .., -. -. 800. l...t.f.l IL. 49,.
that of the four or five days trip from
Bergen to Christians. George Bliss
in New York Times.